I created the award-winning Insomnia Radio Network in 2004 and was globally recognized as an early podcasting pioneer. In 2006, Insomnia Radio was awarded Best Podcast by Newsweek Online, and the network was praised in the pages of the New York Times, Wired and CMJ.

Since then, I’ve been entrenched in the video game industry and fascinated with the rapid evolution of the technology surrounding it.

I'm addicted to producing professional web content which aims to simultaneously educate and entertain. My column at Forbes is the culmination of these experiences, and I’ll bring my unique voice, background and skillset to deliver memorable content.

Stay in touch with me on Facebook and Twitter. Reach out to me with questions by emailing jevangelho@gmail.com

First Impressions: Microsoft Surface Pro

Microsoft’s Surface Pro launched today, and I’ve spent the last 24 hours evaluating their sophomore PC hardware effort with mostly positive observations. What follows are my initial impressions of the Surface Pro, with a detailed review coming down the pipe within a week.

Surface Pro ≠ Tablets

First, one important guideline to keep in mind: I won’t be comparing the Surface Pro to the iPad, because the Surface Pro defies characterization as a tablet. Anyone slapping the same label on these devices is doing you a disservice. The Surface Pro runs a full desktop OS, has the internals of an ultrabook, and resulting benchmarks put all tablets to shame.

Having only used the Touch Cover on the Surface RT, it needs to be said that the Type Cover is in a league of its own. The physical keys have a subtle inward curve, and while the amount of travel is minimal, it’s a joy to type on. I instantly adapted from my full-sized ergonomic keyboard and am punching this article up in Word without any slowdown or errors. I would be comfortable using it for my daily writing duties at Forbes, and it’s a no-brainer for productivity on the road. If you purchase the Surface Pro, don’t leave without the Type Cover.

Display, Graphics…and Gaming?

The Surface Pro’s 1920×1080 display is stunning and a noticeable upgrade from Surface RT’s 1366×768 resolution. As with RT, this is a best-in-class panel with pure whites and vibrant, realistic color.

Beyond productivity, the Surface Pro has another distinguishing trait which separates it from the tablet market: gaming chops. Not just Angry Birds or Jetpack Joyride, but AAA core titles like Portal 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Portal 2 ran surprisingly well using these settings and a 1920x1080 resolution

I installed and played both on my Surface Pro and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Portal 2 ran smoothly at 1920×1080 with medium shaders and high texture detail (see image, right). XCOM performed equally well at 1920×1080. (At a reader’s request, I’ll also test StarCraft II and Diablo 3 for my final review.) With Intel’s HD Graphics 4000, an Intel Core i5, and 4GB of RAM, the early verdict is that a Steam install wouldn’t be out of line. Hardcore gamers need not apply, but casual or “mid-core” gamers should dive in.

Eye Candy: Not Without A Sacrifice

The higher resolution display doesn’t delight your eyes without some compromise. After installing Chrome and Steam I noticed that both rendered blurry text. Chrome auto-updated this morning with the option to launch in “Windows 8 mode,” restoring the browser to its ideal readability. But what about Steam, iTunes, and other pieces of non-optimized software?

What’s happening here is that the global magnification settings for the desktop are defaulted to 150%. This looks stellar for native apps, but 3rd party software typically exhibits blurred text as a result. This can be solved by changing the magnification settings back to 100%, but the Surface Pro’s sharp 1920×1080 resolution means that doing so will render text and icons so small, most of us will have to squint. While this is ideal for an external display, Windows 8 doesn’t yet allow independent scaling of multiple displays, and that’s a real problem.

To see the difference between native and 3rd party software text rendering, click this image to enlarge it.

Microsoft is aware of this issue, however, and in a recent Reddit AMA stated that “The Windows team is aggressively working on this feature to fix this for all high resolution Windows devices. We don’t have a date yet to share, so sorry.” I’ll keep you posted.

Improved Audio

Compared to Surface RT, the Pro’s audio capabilities have undergone a dramatic increase in quality. Music is louder, crisper, and has a shade more bass response. The speakers are in the same general location as the RT, but notice in the picture below how the top half of the Pro has venting slots. Not only are the drivers slightly larger, but I suspect the design also improves the acoustics. Rest assured you’ll be able to enjoy podcasts, Hulu Plus or Xbox Music from a distance without straining to hear.

Top: Surface RT | Bottom: Surface Pro

Battery Life Observations

The Surface Pro’s battery ran down during the roughly 3 hour process of writing this first impressions piece. This included 30 minutes of gaming, 15 minutes of music streaming, and constant web activity. Auto-brightness was on, and I kept Outlook and MetroTwit running in the background. This is by no means conclusive testing, but in terms of anecdotal observation, battery life may be a concern. I’m confident that enabling battery-saving features, reducing brightness, and not putting the Surface Pro through “review-style” paces will result in 4 to 5 hours of battery life. Apparently all this horsepower doesn’t come without some sacrifice.

Since this is all about first impressions, I’ll say I’m enthusiastic about the Surface Pro in its role as an ultrabook and productivity machine. During the next week, I’ll rigorously test its tablet incarnation, run it through some benchmarks, and give you a more detailed analysis of battery life, gaming performance, digitizer pen, wedge mouse, and general usability.

For those not willing to wait for the full review – perhaps those of you holding out for Surface Pro over the RT – I seriously doubt you’ll be disappointed with this hardware.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

This is an interesting reboot of the Surface concept by Microsoft. Your review is based on yoir opinion that the Surface Pro does not compete with the iPad, and on that I believe that you are simply mistaken. The tablet market has encroached upon and eviscerated all growth from the lower end PC market including netbooks, ultrabooks and notebooks. There’s no question that there is a great deal of overlap between this product and higher end tablets, and as those true tablet alternatives become a little more powerful, consumers will choose those over this basterdized hybrid. Simply put, I don’t see a market for this device. I’d rather carry my real (non-touch, Windows 7) notebook plus a tablet when travelling. It really isn’t a big deal to do so.

Why would you pay $1000 for a Intel’s HD Graphics 4000, an Intel Core i5, and 4GB of RAM. This hardware is 5+ years old, your not going to be able to play any current AAA games with this thing. You won’t be able to play 90% of Steam games. You could get a refurbished laptop with better hardware for $200.Enter Your Comment

Thanks for the review. I share many of your thoughts. I went out today to check it out with the idea of picking up a 128 if i liked it. It really aggravated me that they didn’t have enough out for launch. MS sells supply chain software, yet they have obvious supply chain problems.

Any way, this was my first opportunity to use one (display unit). I was really impressed. It was smaller and lighter than i anticipated and i found both keyboards good. The way they put the slot for the fan actually hides the extra thickness – just appears as if it’s part of the kickstand. I had heard that the mouse pads were poor, yet i used it several minutes without thinking before i realized that i had been using the mouse pad . . . it’s fine.

I travel for business and this will replace my work Dell laptop while on the road. It’s ideal for that task and I’m excited about it . . . assuming MS actually gets them delivered. I like Win8 – using it now on an upgraded home computer and prefer browsing in the tiles interface. I actually found your article using the News app – it’s great, except your site doesn’t work well with IE10, so i had to switch to Firefox to write this comment.

Abysmal battery life (3 hours as tested)! No built in Internet connectivity? Is Microsoft kidding? These are critical requirements necessary to compete in mobile computing. The rest of the specs do not matter. Game over. Pathetic!

@Jeffrey – Look at the specs before declaring the game over. Surface doesn’t have 4G but it does have WiFi. As an earlier poster said: if connectivity on the road is an issue you can always tether it to your phone.

Compare the Surface Pro’s battery life against many of the other ultrabooks (including MacBook Air). Pretty similar. Plus I get a touch screen, stylus, SD card for add’l storage, etc.

Good review, I enjoyed reading it. Battery life is acceptable for the specs. I heard microsoft might offer a way to extend its battery life. Not confirmed but a possible add on dock / keyboard to extend life. I use Win8 in all my machines and having the compatiblity = productivity for me. However, the price seems a bit high. I am a bit hesitant to fork over a grand for one. Even though the specs are equal to a laptop. Perhaps because I haven’t put tablet and laptop in the same standards.

I bought a low end, Celeron Toshiba laptop with 1 GB of system memory and a 320 GB HDD about 8 years ago, at Fry’s, for $1,000. Today I bought a much faster, more powerful, portable tablet like device called a Surface Pro, for about the same $1,000. I am enthusiastic.